Rights group accuses Israel of disregarding civilian lives

Human Rights Watch said Tuesday that an Israeli strike in southern Lebanon that killed three children and their grandmother earlier this month showed “reckless disregard for civilian life.”

The statement from the rights group comes as Israel and Hezbollah are continuing to clash along the tense Lebanon-Israel border since Oct. 8. The skirmishes have escalated but remain largely contained to areas near the border. The international community and Lebanese government have been scrambling to prevent the situation from turning into an all-out war in the small Mediterranean country.

On Nov. 5, the Israeli military struck a car on the road between the southern Lebanese towns of Ainata and Aitaroun. Inside the car were the three adolescent girls, their grandmother and their mother. Only the mother survived and is in stable condition in a hospital.

The rights organization said they conducted interviews and analyzed video of the attack. The Israeli military also said after the attack that they were investigating the incident.

“Israeli authorities have long failed to credibly investigate their own serious abuses, even when they acknowledge they carried them out,” Human Rights Watch Lebanon researcher Ramzi Kaiss said. “With Israeli authorities continuing to commit abuses with impunity, Israel’s allies should insist on accountability for Israel’s violations of the laws of war and this apparent war crime.”